gains. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews. in washington tonight, why are republicans still closeting gay people? mitt romney has asked you not speak on this call. it's best to lay low for now. with his words, it took out the openly gay hiring strategist. having just been hired, he was told to hide. why is mitt raomney letting a tp adviser being silenced because he's gay? why won't he stand up and say, i want him in my campaign. here is a chance for romney to show he's not afraid of the right, that is, if he's not afraid. for mitt romney, you have a bunch of pathetic, it could be worse endorsements by people like newt gingrich. does anybody really like this guy? plus, the chinese dissident, the

u.s. is on the attack. two scholars say blame the republicans. it's a compromise unmoved by facts, evidence and science and dismissed as a legitimacy of the political opposition. wow. they're saying out loud the republicans are the problem. let me finish tonight with this pathetic assault on romney by president jimmy carter. we begin with romney's openly gay foreign adviser quit the campaign because of the pressure from the right. ron reagan is an msnbc political analyst. thank you both for joining us. david wright, you've put a lot of thought and a lot of work in your career lately in trying to fight this kind of big on totry. the republicans have a large right. i've been speaking to the right

for years. they exist, there are gay republicans. why are they taking a guy they just named as one of their chief foreign policy spokesspoem and sayi saying you can't speak anymore. >> they decided to demonize gay people, and i remember newt gingrich comparing gays to alcoholics, saying the victims of aides were like rats. this is a long time coming. the republican groups that criticized grinell are not alone. the american family association has 200 members and they're on 200 radio stations around the country. >> it's become that. let's go to the iran issue. ron, you're thinking about this growing up in a republican family. although your family were

conservative, they didn't care about gay people. this has a weird witch hunt thing going on. >> it has, but this isn't entirely new, and it goes back as far as the '80s or '90s. since the civil rights era, the republican party has been filled with bigots. it has provided a refuge for bigots and it has exploited their fear and anger. it could be economists, african-americans, women who want to stand up for their rights, but the most reliable "they" the republican party has had, it's out there to undo family values and somehow drag down the america of their dreams, the most reliable are gay people. gay people are, and still to this day, are people who under certain circumstances can be demonized an they are demonized on the right. >> west florida hasn't gotten the message yet.

he's still going after the 81 communists in the democratic caucus. i worked in capitol hill for years, as you know. i knew a lot of gay people worked there. they said that place would close down if they didn't have gay people working there. from all levels they were there on both sides of the aisle, right? how did these women survive culturally, socially, morally, where gay bashing still goes on at this moment? mitt romney will not defend this guy. he will not say, come back to the campaign. mitt romney f you're watching this, tell him right now to come back. but he won't. >> for the aide, it wasn't saying he was gay, it was having the self-respect to say you were gay. >> if your boss knows it, everybody knows it, but it's not on public television. >> everyone is okay with it, but

then when the question is called, there's pandering. what do the top aides say when that he have to write this crap? >> mitt romney is running an anti-gay campaign. he contributed to the national organization for marriage, he signed their anti-gay petitions. >> he would have been great during the time of henry viii. here's mark mckennon, former bush campaign adviser. here's what he said about romney's decision not to stand by his former spokesman. let's watch. >> these are examples where people like me would like to see mitt romney stand up and say, i don't care what people think. this is my guy, i'm standing behind him, and i want him out front. we need to see more examples of that, because what people ultimately want in a president is somebody who is strong, somebody who is bold and has clear conviction to stand behind

his decisions. >> the senator from missouri and campaign adviser of mitt romney said, quote, people with the kind of expertise that ric has don't grow on trees. it's a real setback for us, i think. ron, back to you. do you remember bill clinton who wanted to show his guts and showed that moment where he stood up against people who were normally on his side? reverend jackson didn't like it much, but he did it. governor romney can say, this guy is on my team, he's staying on my team, and he won't do it as we speak. >> he missed an opportunity, and he gave himself a longer term problem. this was a chance for him to shake up the etch a sketch, for him to say to the people who he's been pandering to the last few months, i have a line i don't cross. don't you think you can bully me forever here. i'm now pivoting to the general election and i'm not going to pander to you any more.

in not doing that, he gave himself a long term problem of em boldment. they're going to start making more numerous and more onerous demands as the convention approaches. >> so whatever they're going to call it, they're going after any leverage they can use. >> yes. in all sorts of ways. not just going after gay people but other things as well. >> david, this is a question because we've gone through real policy debates. this is a debate over gay marriage. it's going to go on, it will probably be state-by-state unless that brilliant lawyer team is able to do something, boyce and olson, are able to win the case in the high court rk, that's going to be awhile. i think it's going to grow towards the numbers. we finally got away with don't ask, don't tell. it seems like that's a real question about patriotism and the right to serve your country. it seems like that's one that's

pretty easy to come out for. we have people serving openly in our military but they can't serve openly in the romney campaign? think about that. >> if you look at mitt romney's record, he's been on both sides of these issues. remember when he said he was going to be more pro-gay than john mccain? he's been back and forth on civil rights and gay adoption. >> what do you say he believes? >> that's a good question, because he's on both sides of so many issues. >> what do people believe? do they think he's a bigot? >> what matters is not what he believes but what he does. he won't stand up for grenell, and that sends a message that he will do what is politically expedient. >> there's a pattern here. we saw it with tax policy of i'll sign anything that grover

puts in front of him. on farm policy, he talks about iran which is almost crazy, he's so hawkish. they're good people but certainly on the hard right of the republican party like dan cenar, and he's going in that direction. now on the cultural front, he's doing it here again. it seems like there is nothing he won't say yes to if they don't say no to him. in other words, if it means they're going to say no to him, he says yes to him. >> absolutely, and people do look for a president who has convictions and this man doesn't seem to have convictions. in terms of the republican party itself, this is a deadly issue for him. old people are afraid of gay people. younger people, people my age and younger, are not. they're shrugging their shoulder and saying, why is everybody making a big deal out of this, and they look at people who do make a big deal out of it and think they're pretty creepy. >> a last thought. if he were a true conservative -- romney -- he would be able to say, this is where i draw the line and i'm

different than you guys. i'm a libertarian on this one. i'm with gay people because they're the way god made them, and i know you know i'm a conservative. but since he's not seen as an authentic conservative, he has to keep proving himself, and that's the danger here. >> he has a problem with his space and that's a problem. >> the man who wants to go to china, nobody wants him to go to china so he can't cross the line. as always, thanks for coming on. michelle bachmann wants the big name mitt romney. she's come around the bend. after romney clobbered his opponents with negative ads, there's probably not a lot of admiration. that's ahead. you're watching "hardball." [ male announcer ] the inspiring story

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fidelity investments. turn here. a new polling data from key battle states in the public election. in florida the race is tightening, according to the new poll. mitt romney is ahead, 44, obama 43. ohio, where the race is getting closer. this time it's obama up by two, 44 to 42. in pennsylvania, mitt romney not in the lead yet. wisconsin, obama 51, romney, 42. those troubled states that are hard to pick, ohio and florida, as tim rusten used to call them,

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i am honored to be able to be here to introduce not only governor bob mcdonald, a fabulous governor in the state of virginia, but also to lend my voice and my endorsement to mitt romney as our president to take the country back! [ applause ] >> welcome back to "hardball." today it's 119 days after she dropped out of the race. michelle bachmann endorsed mitt romney, but how seriously can we take endorsements from someone like her who said this shortly before she quit the race. >> mitt romney, can he beat obama? >> no. he can't beat obama because his policy is the basis of obamacare. >> this is why people really trust politicians. anyway, endorsements of mitt romney from former candidates and party leaders have been grudging and unenthusiastic, partly because of the result of being victimized of the tea

party's carpet bombing. how do you split between blood politics and team immunity? steve mcvan and todd harris is a republican strategist. by the way, in just a moment, a unanimous humility on my part. i thought michelle bachmann had a good shot. >> you should have asked me. >> i thought she had a great, positive message, a concerned message, a christian message but it seems to be an appealing message, and i don't think she should have dropped out of the campaign. >> she was all the rage for a short period of time, and then she got a look in iowa, and she could have run off with it, but when she got the look, she wasn't ready. she couldn't answer the questions the journalists had. >> let's talk on a personal level and then we'll get to more grand. newt gingrich endorsed president romney just yesterday. there is a certain note you get from those who have run against

romney. let's listen. >> i've asked sometimes is mitt romney conservative enough? and my answer is simple. compared to barack obama? you know, this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. >> wow. these ads could explain gingrich's restraint. the romney pack called restore our future jammed the airways in iowa in late december with this. let's watch. >> do you know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrich's baggage. he has more baggage than the airlines. ever notice how some people make a lot of mistakes? >> it's probably a mistake. i made a mistake. i've made mistakes at times. >> so far newt gingrich has admitted his mistakes or flipped on teaming up with nancy pelosi, immigration, medicare, health care. >> well, when rick santorum was surging in february, they gave

santorum the treatment like this adhere. let's listen. >> who has the right experience in mitt romney helped create thousands of jobs. >> mitt romney is called the ultimate insider. >> santorum in washington voted to raise the debt limit five times. >> here's rick santorum squirming to endorse mitt romney. let's watch. >> do you believe that mitt romney is the right guy? >> i believe he's the better -- obviously i believe that's the better choice but i'm not in this race anymore. >> he's in the race. >> he's in the race. >> therefore, is he the right guy? >> absolutely. he's the person that's going to go up against barack obama, that's pretty clear, and we need to win this race. >> unless i'm mishearing things, you just endorsed mitt romney. >> if that's what you want to call it, you can call it whatever you want. >> what is it about romney who makes people who have run against him hate him? >> look, it was a tough, tough

primary. you don't run for president without having an outsized ego to begin with, and mitt romney v vanquished every single one of these guys. >> he outscored him with charm and charisma. >> he beat them fair and square. >> how did he do it? >> he beat them fair and square. >> there's a reason they hate him. they think he's an empty suit, and he has so much money with these superpacs that waste these guys. >> should be pointed out that newt gingrich, who has compared himself to moses and george washington, he's not happy by the fact he was defeated by mitt romney. >> john mccain hated him so much he wouldn't put him on the vice president ticket. he picked sarah palin. >> the people who run against mitt romney come out of the campaign with a bad taste in

their mouth. he tends to win, but they don't think he stands for anything. he flip-flops all over the place. and when you believe that you're somebody of principle stance like newt gingrich or rick santorum or any of the people that ran against him and you get beat by somebody who you don't think has that, and the way it's done is with superpacs and mysterious money popping up out of nowhere with negative ads that have no signature on them, then you're understandably bitter. this was the most negative republican primary in history. >> i am not a conservative, okay? but i know what one is, and i watch them deep down. they're just like liberals. liberals are gut liberals. they have a feeling about it. in the middle of the night they wake up worrying about deficits, worrying about about the econom they have deep feelings. these are not the things they can fake. they think romney is a fake. you know that's true. they think romney is a fake.

>> who is "they"? >> the true conservatives think romney is a fake. >> i don't know that that's true. >> that he's a fake or that's what they think? >> look at the polling. are there professional conservatives in washington who make a living being the arbiter of what's conservative? do they dislike mitt romney? yeah, they probably do, but you wouldn't show these polls that show these two neck and neck, you wouldn't see poll lz os out ohio and florida that show them neck and neck if there were not a huge swath of conservatives that were not on board with mitt romney. >> do you think that's a board of innocence? or does he look like an empty suit pretending to be a conservative? >> he's trying to close the deal. he's a business guy that's trying to close the deal. when you're trying to close the deal, people come to you and say, you need to agree to this thing to close the deal. okay, i'll do that. you need to say that. okay, i'll do that.

he is a business guy that's trying to close the deal, and everybody who ran against him understand that's what he is and they resent the fact they were beaten by that. >> mitt romney taught himself conservati conservatism, he didn't grow up with it, yet in the 1950s, he read about politics, and he got into it, and by the time he ran for president a couple times, he was running his own speeches, he was who he was. do you think romney is like that? a guy who writes his own speeches, has his own thoughts, would write a newspaper column if he didn't run for president? >> i don't care. >> aha! that says that. "i don't care." >> what's to care about is when he becomes president, he's going to change the direction -- >> he's going to sign those tax things, right. five digits. we're ending the conversation,

all right? when you said you don't care, i understand where you're coming from. he just verified the whole premise of the segment. up next, if you're going to tampa for the republican convention, don't bring your water pistol, but a real gun? no problem. governor rick scott, wild west approached a republican conventi convention. bring your gun! it's going to be fun. >> next on the side show, you're watching "hardball." [ lauer ] this is our team. and unlike other countries, it's built by your donations, not government funding. and now, to support our athletes, you can donate a stitch in america's flag for the 2012 olympic games in london. help raise our flag, add your stitch at teamusa.org. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard."

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pampers. proud supporter of babies' play. ♪ ha! now for the sideshow. remember your first summer job? the obama administration kicked off a new initiative that encourages businesses to create summer job opportunities for low-income young people. we look to late night jimmy fallon to see a video series of his own first job memory.

>> my first job was cleaning gum and stuff from the electronic mats that were in front of the grocery stores. you know, you step on the mat and the doors would open? i had like a wooden stick and i would scrape it out. i remember my mom and grandmother came by one day as i was doing it, and my grandmother started crying. don't be embarrassed to work hard, even if what do you makes your grandma cry. look at me in this outfit. this is -- i'm sorry, grandma. >> he's great. my first job was delivering the boldent. the convention coming up in august, you would think security would be a top writer, rigprior? there is already a ban on arms inside the center. we asked governor rick scott that the ban be expanded to include the event zone, which surrounds more of the surrounding area. some of the weapons in that ban

include water pistols, and guns. slingshots, brass knuckles. the response is, it is at just such times that the constitutional right to self-defense is most precious and must be protected from government overreach. why would anyone bring a gun to a national convention? i just don't get it. didn't we just have a case where a guy had a gun, and we all would have been better off if he didn't, especially trayvon martin? according to two long-time partisan scholars, it's the republicans. barney frank is coming to talk about it. tomorrow we'll be joined by former secret service agent clint mchale. he was assigned to jackie kennedy that horrible day in

november. his book is called "mrs. kennedy and me." this is hardball. u're one of those people who doesn't like delicious stuff. temptations. it's the first jell-o that's just for adults. [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals

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i'm amanda drury with your cnbc market wrap. the s&p was down by 11, the nasdaq 75. they were worried about the economy on the better than expected report. the retail service improved in april, showing plant layoffs rose 7.1% last month. this is your update from cnbc where we're first worldwide. back to "hardball."

back to "hardball." a tra a traumatic moment on the blind activist chen guangcheng. through a translator, he said he wanted to travel to the united states. he said he wanted to meet with secretary of state hillary clinton who was in china for strategic discussions. let's go over what happened at that hearing later today. >> i want to meet with the secretary clinton. i hope i can get more help from her. i also want to thank her face to face. i really fear for my other family members' lives. >> he's a blind activist. he's in the hospital right now. he had been in the american embassy. the activist called from his hospital room where he's been, since leaving the u.s. embassy

in beijing just yesterday. all of this happened so fast. congressman, i know you've been involved with human rights in china for a long time now. tell us how you think this thing is working out right now, how you think it should be working out? >> well, so far it's a failure, and my hope is there can still be a happy ending. when chen guangcheng was released to the chinese with an agreement that apparently wasn't even written down with guarantees of his safety, anyone in china knows dissidence has no safe place in china. the talk should have been how do we get him to the united states, not just him, but his wife, who had been beaten severely over and over again, and those who helped him. the chinese human rights activist took him in her car to beijing. she is under, we think, either under house arrest or in custody

right now. so there is a whole group of people for whom we have had a great deal of concern for, and unfortunately, with the timeline of this summit, he was literally pushed out the door with some very vague and, i would say, ineffective assurances, and now he realizes it and wants to come to the united states along with his wife and friends. >> congressman, you're a politician and you've studied these situations in china for a long time, longer than i've taken a look at it. why is it the chinese would allow us to score an international propaganda victory of this sort where we take one of their citizens and the whole family back on a plane with our secretary of state, our foreign minister, in a sense, take them out of america in the face of all this diplomacy. to walk out of the country with some people saying we're saving them from their own government. why would the chinese government ever let us do that? would they ever let us do that? >> of course, they will.

chen san example, harry roos is an example. >> why would they let us do that? >> they would do that because it's somebody who has been a problem for them, but it also comes down to what our response would be. we got soviet jews out of what was then the soviet union. i worked on all these issues, and the people out of china, when we are firm, when we say this is a highest priority to the united states and then they come here. frankly, he is now at great risk, and i mean great risk, to his life and to his freedoms. we can't even visit with him. our embassy people can't even get back into the door. they were asked to leave; they left. >> you're just establishing the facts i'm trying to work from. if they had that kind of firm determination not to let them move around in their own country, why would they let them board a united states plain, a military plane, to go back to the states? why would they ever let them do that? >> because it all comes down to whether we're willing to use

enough political capital to -- >> what is our leverage on the people's republic of china to get this guy out of the country? what's our leverage? >> our leverage continues to be the diplomatic issue of them holding this ban. we didn't make it a priority for asylum that it should have been. >> what is our power in this situation? i just want to know -- we all know we want him out. we'd like to give git his freedom. we'd like all the chinese people to have their freedom. but what is the leverage in a dictatorship where we're the host country, we're surrounded by the red army. what leverage do we have to get that guy to china as you suggest we should. >> we have to have dramatic leverage. >> what's that? >> all the high-level people that come from china. i introduced a bill that would be held individually responsible. those men and women should be held in china who do the forced abortions, who do the religious persecutions. >> now we get into the forced a

borg -- abortions. how do we tell them not to have forced abortions? >> the forced abortions comes from china. >> i know that. >> i offered a bill in 2004 called the bella rose democracy act. i introduced legislation -- >> but how does this get this gentleman out of china? >> because we haven't helped the chinese themselves who do these atrocities to account individually, by holding them into account and saying, you can't come here. chris, there are -- we're their market. without the united states, where are they going to sell those goods? there is a symbiotic relationship with us now. >> you believe we can use our

economic leverage with the chinese to produce more human rights in china? you believe that's true? >> without a doubt. >> without a doubt. >> it was bill clinton on may 26, 1994 who severed the relationship between what was then called most favored nation status and human rights. that day things went into a tailspin and they've been doing it ever since. we need other believers, one of them being withholding visas to those who commit trust issues. >> i respect completely your opinion about forced abortions -- i don't know anyone who believes that in this country. >> there are people who are for it big time. >> thank you. you're not one of them. we now join someone who has been very involved in chinese policy, jane harmon, she is president and ceo of the woodrow wilson national center. how do we balance our concern on

getting our relations with china on better footing and this situation of chen? >> first, let me say i was with chris smith in beijing in 1955 when hillary clinton said -- >> '55? >> 1995. women's rights were human rights and human rights were women's rights. he was a former delegate in congress, i believe in his passion, and i think the man is -- >> china -- the crc has their policy. you had one kid, otherwise you had abortions. >> right. he's a crazed human activist. we all agree on that. now we have to decide what we do going forward. i don't think it's doable, i don't know what we're doing. i like the fact that we're negotiating in private. i don't think this case needs to be tried on tv or in a one-party house hearing. i don't think that's going to lead to a good result.

>> do you think they would like to get rid of this guy to the point they would let him -- >> i don't know what they want to do with this guy, but there are a couple facts chris left out. one is he spent six years in our embassy and did not ask for asylum. he specifically said he did not want it, he wanted to released to his family. he was reunited with his family. >> was that an incredible deal? >> i don't know, but he has free access to media, obviously. he's talking to everybody outside of china, so the chinese are using this moment to blast -- to convey some interesting views. >> how do you read that? >> i think there are agendas on both sides and they're mixed agendas. in china, there is the old china and the new china, and this is playing out in a drama with another case. i think that once the fifth generation takes power, china will have to open up to some exte extent. the economy will force that, let alone issues like this. >> who is calling the shots? president clinton?

who is doing it right now? >> the negotiator for the six states was harold coe, who was not impressed by the senate because he's such an advocate. >> so you think he's fair enough? >> i think they had a good deal in china and then he changed his mind. but consider this, chris, that on this side we're in a presidential year -- i thought i would shock you by making that point -- so people are piling on. that's not very helpful. passion is good, this rhetoric is way over the top, and the goal here should be safety for chen and his family, and the expression of human rights concerns inside and outside of china. and i don't think any of these agendas that are being forced now are going to achieve any of those. >> you know how symbols rise on the ground where there is tremendous emotions. >> there's one more thing, our agenda with china has to be both

competition and cooperation. the strategic talk with hillary clinton and geithner therefore matters and it's being blown up. >> we went to china back in the early' 50s, we don't want to go back again. >> i agree. up next, who is to blame for the dysfunctional congress. two partisans say it really is one party: the republicans. we're going to talk about that with barney frank who is leaving the congress and has thoughts on what he has found as changed the republican party over the years. this is "hardball." wake up!

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well, the wisconsin governor's recall election is about a month away right now, but we've got new poll numbers on that race. let's check the hardball scoreboard. republican scott walker's lead is shrinking now. walker has an insignificant one-point lead over likely democratic candidate tom barrett. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story

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you get bigger, more beautiful plants. guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? uh, this gal. boom! everyone grows with miracle-gro. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. we're back. blame the republicans. that's the conclusion congressional scholars thomas mann and norman newstein made

after studying politics for four decades. they write, quote, the gop has become an insurgent outlier in american politics. it is idealogically extreme, scorn ful of compromise, unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science, and dismiss sie dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. and the "washington post" writes, while the democrats may have moved from their 40-yard line to their 25, the republicans have gone from their 40 to somewhere behind their goal past. barney frank, you've been in congress long enough to see changes made. do you accept the fact that this is true? >> absolutely. this is not a 50-50 deal. democrats have gotten more partisan and tougher in

response, but by the way, chris, this is the year of newt gingrich's greatest failure, the gingrich presidential campaign ended in burlesque. but it was an interesting way he achieved triumph, because newt gingrich came to the congress in '78 and was angered shortly thereafter when tip o'neal and ronald reagan talked about their congress. he said, we will not see people who disagree on economics and who disagree on the environment and who disagree on health care. he said let's be very clear. he put out things saying this. he put out work sheets and instruction manuals. the democrats are corrupt and treasonist. and we worked that. and now we're seeing the triumph

of that. one wanted more government, one wanted less. there are no democrats opening a free enterprise system and generating wealth and goods and services, and most republicans used to say yes. and we need to government thats together. that's now out of whack. you have a republican party that believe they should have no government at all. they said i want to put government in a bathtub, bull the drain and shrink it. you have a degree of saying that we don't understand. we have fought back. i think what you just quoted is correct. not since the civil war has there been a faction of the country that took over a political party so far from the

center. i think they will get reputuated. people are looking at what they're saying and i don't think the american people are ready for this. >> the people of congress, people like you, senor will left, sometimes left come into congress, and people from the right and center right meet, you get to know each other, have a drink together. this is how it's been since they wrote the declaration. you get together. >> it was that way until fairly recently and people say things are terrible. the rps today, the very extreme group, is reputuating the bush administration. in 2008 we had this terrible crisis and there was great bipartisan corporation between the secretary of treasury, the appointee to run -- sheila bear,

a dole aide, and myself and senator dodd, nancy pelosi and senator dodd. now you have an extreme right-wing group that's reputuating that. what's very interesting, and i have seen this, we hurt wall street's feelings, i understand that. your irresponsibility brought us these funds. people who used to support obama are now republican. they're spotting people opposed to doing the things that george bush's appointees think we had to do. they're telling people, don't think europe with this crisis. for themes that a double advantage. if europe can't resolve the crisis, our economy is down, and they would like that because it

would hurt obama's chances. >> how do we fix it? is there any hope? >> yes. it's not that deep. it only -- you know people said you're dysfunctional, but in 2009 and 2010 we passed good legislation. the shareholders of citi corp -- we gave them the right to do that in the financial reform bill. we made it easier for women discriminated against to sue, and we have a good health care plan. the problem is in 2010 you had this recession, you had the anger over the collapse, and so 2010 was an aberration. if the republican party takes back the senate, holds the house, and romney is throwing people off the side of the boat so the right wing doesn't blow them over and win, you will see

a perpetuation of this. if the bob doles and mainstream conservatives, they lost their party right now, the right wing has taken over, and if the republicans don't do well, i'll say this, if you're a mainstream republican conservative, you want the extremist to move. after they lose the reasonable people will be able to take back their party. i think you'll see it now. >> congressman, we'll have you back many times before you leave this year. we don't want you to leave the show. when we return, let me finish with romney's pathetic attack against jimmy carter. ...the mickelson exxonmobil teachers academy... ...and astronaut sally ride's science academy are helping our educators improve student success in math and science.

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let me finish tonight with this. mitt romney just took another shot at former president jimmy carter. president carter had the courage to take two countries at war and come back with a peace treaty. even if it hurt american farmers on the eve of the iowa caucuses. he refused to sen american athletes to the olympics because he knew it would reach the soviets where it hurts. things didn't turn out right for

him politically but that's politics, and he took it hard. he regularly, relentlessly did what was good for the country. the country club boys had a lot of fun with that work. pushing an end to nonnuclear proliferation. he worried about things we worry about today and make sure nuclear webs didn't get in the hands of the wrong people. reagan said that was none of our concern. it's not really when you think about gutsy to call for tax cuts. it's not gusty so say filler up and buy a big car, or to sign any piece of paper put in front of you for taxes, or buckle to the right and dump any gay staffer that dare show himself. why is mitt romney entitled to question jimmy carter, the first time you show a wit of the cuts that man did,